Week 9 Thing 21: Where's The Pod?

Podcasting, to be quite honest, is probably my favorite of all internet developments in the last couple of years. I’ve been an enthusiastic listener for over a year now, and my husband and I have plans to develop a podcast of our own at some point in the future. The technology is fairly simple to use, reasonably inexpensive, and readily available. Content is the real key to developing one, and we think we can cover that aspect.

I already am subscribed to several podcasts, through my iTunes software since I use an iPod, but I went ahead and found some interesting new ones using the suggested directories for this exercise. Adding them to my bloglines is not going to be a long-term help to me, but the experience should enable me to assist other people with the concept.

The suggested search engines are already somewhat familiar to me. My favorite is probably Podcast Alley, but I use all of them, including the iTunes store’s list of free ‘casts. My preferred podcasts tend to be the crafting and fiction ones, though podcasts are also great sources of news, education, and humor. Any of these search engines could supply a number of those types of 'casts. On this search, however, I’m looking for book reviews, fiction, and or library-related podcasts.

The Holodrama Network is a Star Wars fan fiction podcast; I can’t wait to listen. The Secrets Presents: Forgotten Tales is supposedly good original fiction. I hope it lives up to its hype. Now for a book review podcast: I think I’ll try out the Comic Book Attic. Filmspotting looks like it could be interesting, as does Audio Books with Annie.

I know from experience that only listening will really reveal the quality of these ‘casts. But, as with Youtube, the folksy nature of podcasting is a great deal of the appeal for me. I like the idea that information can become, not merely universally available, but more democratically produced. Greater degrees of discernment will be needed for finding the most valuable communications, but I think we can all afford to develop that particular quality.

Ah! Listening to the podcasts on my computer, using Bloglines, turns out to be extremely easy. I’m doing it now, as I create this blog entry. Maybe I will find Bloglines even more useful than I originally imagined it to be. Ha-ha, this is a very, very silly story. Content, how important you are.